Is the OpenWeb/IndieWeb still for “anoraks”?

Dave Winer posted an interesting piece not too long ago. About encouraging a friend to take their Facebook comment and repurpose it as a blog post. They ended up putting it on Medium, which was Dave feared would happen.

As Dave points out, Medium’s become the place to post think-pieces and hot-takes alike. But, it could all go away. Worse still, your posts could downplayed by them and not seen by as wide an audience.

Medium posted a, I think, well positioned reply. But the fact remains that the masses still see posting anything outside of a silo too “techie”. Twitter, Facebook, Medium, and many others rely on users content to make them money. I’m completely fine with that. What I’m not fine with is my content being completely lost if they closed.

It’s never been easier to get started posting your own content online:

• Buy your own domain name (they are so cheap nowadays)
• Use a free blogging tool like Wordpress or Known
• Write
• Syndicate (send it from there to other platforms)

The missing bullet point is the one that is the highest barrier for most people. Replying. Its the one that needs to find a solution before OpenWeb/IndieWeb gets mass appeal.

Silo’s have made it so easy to respond immediately. Within their own system speed is of essence. The thought of crafting a reply somewhere else seems slow and “anoraky”.

If we can find a way to get that working external platforms as easily as the Silo’s do, then we would see a true open and independent web everyone used.